Afghan forces kill 22 militants, detain 16

The Afghan security eliminated 22 Taliban militants and captured 16 others during series of operations throughout the conflict-ridden country over the past 24 hours, officials asserted Sunday. In the latest incident of exerting pressure against Taliban militants, the security forces raided a Taliban hideout in Shigal district of the eastern Kunar province Sunday morning, killing six militants including a group commander, according to a local official. "Security forces backed by air force stormed a Taliban hideout in Shigal district at 10:00 a.m. local time, killing six rebels including their commander Mullah Mursalin," district governor Abdul Zahir Safi told Xinhua. There were no casualties on the security forces, he contended. The Taliban militants in retaliation captured a 12-year old boy and executed on charge of spying for security forces, Safi further said. He also pointed out that the boy had no link with the government forces. Afghan Interior Ministry has also reported killing of 22 Taliban militants, six of them in the eastern Kunar province since Saturday. "Afghan police backed by the army and the NATO-led coalition forces have carried out several cleanup operations in Uruzgan, Kandahar, Ghazni, Kunar and Herat provinces over the past 24 hours, killing 22 armed Taliban insurgents," a statement released by the Interior Ministry here stressed. In addition to killing 22 suspected Taliban fighters, the Afghanistan's National Directorate for Security (NDS) or the country's national intelligence agency has arrested 16 terrorists, according to the statements of the spy agency released here. The statements released on Saturday and Sunday claimed the arrest of 13 terrorists in the southern Zabul province and three others in Paktika province respectively. Meantime, Taliban militants fighting the government have also claimed the killing of more than a dozen security personnel over the past two days. Since warring sides in Afghanistan often exaggerate the casualties of the opponents, it is difficult to verify the claims independently.